Outlook Live to support Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari

Microsoft's Exchange Labs has been renamed to Outlook Live. With the change …

Earlier this week, we reported that the SkyLine mobile service would be called Outlook Live and would be aimed at small businesses. New details have now emerged that suggest Outlook Live has been with us for quite some time. It has previously gone under the name of Exchange Labs, a program initially rolled out to select universities via Live@edu. Microsoft gives the following reason for renaming the service: "One of the best benefits of Exchange Labs is the rich Outlook experience across the PC, the mobile phone, and now, multiple browsers. So as part of that we're renaming the service to Outlook Live." Right now, Outlook Live is still in beta.

As part of the announcement, Microsoft noted that it currently has 3.5 million students on the service, and that faculty and staff will now be able to get e-mail accounts on Exchange Labs for free. Furthermore, the company revealed that instant messaging has been added to the web experience, as well as a new conversation view (which puts new e-mails into threads). You can see both detailed in the video below (Silverlight required), which I grabbed from the Microsoft Exchange Team Blog.

"Not only do we have these great new experiences within Outlook Live, but we have this great experience across multiple browsers," Ian Hameroff, Senior Technical Product Manager Exchange, noted in the video after demonstrating Outlook Live in IE and Firefox. He then switches to Outlook Live on a MacBook running Safari.

How does this all tie into the mobile version of Outlook Live that will be aimed at small businesses? Ian doesn't explicitly say today, as that announcement is really slated for next week, but he does hint at it: "So, right here from within Outlook Live, I can use IM like I would regularly use with a desktop client, but it's really available with me wherever I go." In other words, you'll be able to get Outlook Live from your PC, your Mac, and your mobile phone.